Norwegians buy 50% stake in Ørsted’s Borssele 1 & 2 offshore wind farm
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), an asset management division of the Norwegian central bank, is to acquire a 50% ownership in the largest offshore wind farm in the Netherlands, Borssele 1 & 2 from Denmark’s Ørsted.
According to Ørsted, the deal, worth approximately €1.37bn, is expected to close around summer 2021.
Under the agreement, Ørsted will continue to provide long-term operations and maintenance services from its base at the Port of Vlissingen in the Netherlands, and also provide NBIM with balancing services and a long-term route to market for the renewable electricity generated by the wind farm.
Martin Neubert, CCO and deputy group CEO of Ørsted, said: “We’re delighted to welcome NBIM as partner on Borssele 1 & 2, which is a landmark project for the Netherlands’ transition to renewable energy, and we’re pleased to support NBIM in their strategy to invest in renewable energy infrastructure assets.”
Mie Holstad, chief real assets officer at Norges Bank Investment Management, stated: “We are very pleased to partner on Borssele 1&2 with Ørsted, the market leader in offshore wind. We are excited to have made our first unlisted investment in renewable energy infrastructure, and we look forward to working alongside Ørsted on delivering green energy to Dutch households.”
The divestment to NBIM, also seen as its first investment in unlisted renewable energy infrastructure, is subject to regulatory approvals.
The 752 MW Borssele 1 & 2 project was commissioned in Q4 2020, generating power to the equivalent of 1m households’ annual power consumption in the Netherlands.
